Rio 2016

Rio 2016 venue: Maria Lenk Aquatics Center – Olympic Park (Barra Zone)
Competition dates: Aug. 7-20
Medal events: 8 (men’s and women’s platform, springboard; men’s and women’s synchronized platform and springboard)
Olympic introduction: 1904 (St. Louis, Missouri)

Preview
Four years ago in London, the U.S. ended a 12-year Olympic medal drought in diving when American divers won four medals, including one gold, one silver and two bronzes. Three of Team USA’s medalists from 2012 will return to the Olympic stage in Rio, but the majority of the 2016 team members will be making their Olympic debut. Of the 10 team members, three are Olympic medalists and seven are Olympic rookies.

Two-time Olympic medalist David Boudia has solidified himself as a medal contender again in Rio, both individually and in synchronized diving. The 2012 individual Olympic gold medalist won his third consecutive world championship 10-meter silver medal in 2015, finishing behind China’s Qiu Bo (who was second to Boudia in London). Boudia has a new synchronized partner in 20-year-old Steele Johnson, but the pair has quickly found success since they began competing together in 2014. The duo won bronze at the 2014 FINA World Cup and challenged for medals at both the 2015 World Championships and 2016 World Cup. Johnson, a first-time Olympian, also will compete individually in Rio, where he finished fourth on 10-meter at the world cup in February.

London 2012 synchronized diving medalists Kristian Ipsen (bronze) and Abby Johnston (silver) will be making their second Olympic appearances in Rio, but this time they’ll be diving solo. Ipsen won the individual 3-meter event at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials to qualify for his second Olympics and will return to Rio, where he won individual bronze on 3-meter at the world cup earlier this year. Johnston will compete individually on 3-meter after finishing second in the women’s 3-meter event at Trials.

Three of the first-time Olympians will be busy after qualifying in two events apiece. Like Johnson, fellow Olympic rookies Michael Hixon and Jessica Parratto will compete in both individual and synchronized events at their first Olympics. Parratto, a seven-time national champion, won both the individual and synchronized 10-meter events at Trials. She will compete with Amy Cozad, another first-time Olympian and eight-time national champion, in the synchronized 10-meter event. Hixon paired with Sam Dorman to win the synchronized 3-meter title at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in what was their first competition together (the duo became a synchronized team just two months before the Trials). Hixon, a 2010 Youth Olympic Games bronze medalist, also finished second individually on 3-meter to qualify for the Olympics in that event as well.

After heartbreak four years ago, Kassidy Cook realized her Olympic dreams in 2016. The now-21-year-old missed out on the London Games by less than half a point and then spent much of the past four years recovering from shoulder and knee surgeries. After winning two national titles in 2015, Cook returned to international competition in 2016 for the first time since 2012 and then won the individual 3-meter event at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials to make her first Olympic Team.

Rounding out the team is Katrina Young, who will compete individually in the women’s 10-meter event. She rallied from behind to secure her spot on the team after finishing second at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. 

Athletes To Watch
David Boudia 
Since winning Olympic gold on the men’s 10-meter in 2012, Boudia has won silver in the event at the 2013 and 2015 world championships – both times finishing second to China’s Qiu Bo, who was second to Boudia at the London Olympics. Boudia also won silver at the 2011 World Championships, and with silver in 2015, he became the first American to earn medals on 10-meter at three consecutive world championships since Greg Louganis. Although Boudia has paired with a new synchro partner since winning Olympic bronze with Nick McCrory in London, he has quickly found success with youngster Steele Johnson. Boudia and the 20-year-old Johnson won bronze at the 2014 FINA World Cup.

Kassidy Cook
The now-21-year-old Cook missed out on the London Olympics by less than half a point and spent much of the past four years recovering from multiple shoulder and knee surgeries. After getting back to top form last year (winning two national titles in 2015), she returned to international competition in 2016 for the first time since 2012. In her first international competition in nearly four years, Cook finished seventh on 3-meter at the FINA World Cup in Rio de Janeiro in February to qualify a national Olympic quota spot for Team USA.

Kristian Ipsen
In 2012, Ipsen made his Olympic debut as a 19-year-old and won bronze in the synchronized 3-meter. Four years later, he will be at his second Olympic Games, this time competing in the individual 3-meter event after missing out on an individual berth by just 1.25 points in 2012. Ipsen won the individual 3-meter title at the 2015 USA Diving Winter National Championships to become a 14-time national champion. He also won bronze on the event at the 2016 FINA World Cup in Rio.

Steele Johnson 
Just 20 years old, Johnson is already a 10-time national champion. He has won five individual 10-meter titles and five synchronized 10-meter titles, including two with David Boudia.

Storylines

• Training for the Olympics is not easy and neither is medical school. Try doing both at the same time. That’s exactly what 2012 Olympic silver medalist Abby Johnston is doing. Johnston made her second Olympic team while balancing the rigors of medical school. She will begin her third year of medical school at Duke University this fall.

• Winning Olympic gold certainly is a life-changing event, but David Boudia’s life has changed in more ways than one since he won gold at the London Olympics in 2012. After returning home from London, Boudia married his wife, Sonnie, and the couple now has a 1-year-old daughter, Dakoda.

• Michael Hixon and Jessica Parratto both grew up with their moms as their first coaches. Hixon’s mother, Mandy, coached him until he began his collegiate career in 2013. Jessica’s mom, Amy, coached her until she moved to Indianapolis in 2009 in order to have better access to facilities (there are currently no 10-meter platforms in New Hampshire, where Jessica is from). Both Michael and Jessica’s fathers are also coaches. David Hixon is the long-time basketball coach at Amherst College, while Mike Parratto is a swim coach and mentored Olympic medalist Jenny Thompson.

• Katrina Young has followed in her grandmother’s footsteps by becoming an Olympian. Young’s paternal grandmother Elaine (Silburn) Young competed as a member of the Canadian Olympic Team at the 1948 Olympic Games in track and field.